Queries On Universal Nature, Or Nature of the Universe :smile: Options

[visuja]

This is in response to a post at the Shlokas thread -- Gayatri Mantra

Can sound (as we know it) be generated in space ?? Theres no (known) medium between the fast moving bodies for sound travel. Else we'd all have evolved as deaf creatures, or probably developed an alternate way to understand sound amidst all the terrible (and terrific) background noise.

Is energy created in the universe (apart from E=mc^2) ? The kinetic energy of galaxies is simply the energy they possess due to their motion. If they stopped moving, all the KE would be transformed into some form of potential energy, I believe. (Although that might lead the collpase of galaxies due to intense gravitational fields). And where is the sink (if any) where energy is consumed ??

This post has been edited by visuja: Aug 31 2005, 08:42 AM

[hits]

This is in response to a post at the Shlokas thread -- Gayatri Mantra

Can sound (as we know it) be generated in space ?? Theres no (known) medium between the fast moving bodies for sound travel.  Else we'd all have evolved as deaf creatures, or probably developed an alternate way to understand sound amidst all the terrible (and terrific) background noise.

Is energy created in the universe (apart from E=mc^2) ?  The kinetic energy of galaxies is simply the energy they possess due to their motion.  If they stopped moving, all the KE would be transformed into some form of potential energy, I believe. (Although that might lead the collpase of galaxies due to intense gravitational fields).  And where is the sink (if any) where energy is consumed ??

In answer to the second part of your question (Mandrake has already addressed the first part, with characteristic panache, I must add), the short answer that physics provides is - No. That being said, the E= mc^2 equation is a very simplified form of a much more involved expression, which can be applied in a variety of circumstances (that will account for "creation" of energy).

Next, scientists like to talk of the existence of "energy sinks" within the universe. They have observed such areas within the universe, and Roger Penrose's theory accounts for it. Direct scientific observation has been few and far between.

Finally, on what would happen if everything stopped, you are largely correct in your assumption on energy conversion, but also remember that m = E/c^2. So, energy can also be converted into mass (not necessarily into other forms of energy). This representation of the equation was anathema for a lot of scientists for a long time. Not any more.